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Indiana State University





Information

  name Indiana State University
  established 1865 ( Details )
  type Public
  endowment $414 million
  faculty 463
  president Lloyd W Benjamin
  students 10,679
  undergrad 8,670
  postgrad 2,009
  city Terre Haute
  state IN
  country USA
  campus small city: 235 acres (0951 km&sup2)
  mascot Sycamore Sam
  colors Yale Blue and White
  free Label Athletics
  free <br>14 Division I NCAA teams<br>called Sycamores
  website wwwindstateedu


Indiana State University ('''ISU''') is a Public University that is located in Terre Haute, Indiana . ISU is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Academic programs across the University are accredited by more than 30 different agencies. Additionally, the University holds institutional membership in ten major national associations. The current Carnegie classification for ISU is Doctoral/Research University—Intensive. The University offers more than 100 majors, notably education, business, criminology, nursing, music, athletic training, human resource development, and construction technology; the university's geography and clinical psychology programs are nationally recognized. ISU is consistently ranked by The Princeton Review as one of the 'Best of the Midwest.' The College of Education's Graduate Program was recently named as a 'Top 100' by US News and World Report.


CAMPUS

The Indiana State University main campus is located on the north side of Terre Haute’s downtown business district and covers more than 140 acres in the heart of the city. More than 60 brick and limestone buildings, laboratories and plazas comprise the main campus. Starting in the 1960s and continuing through the 1990s, ISU sadly lost many of its historic buildings, but efforts are currently underway to beautify the campus: a section of Seventh Street that runs by the university has been converted into a boulevard with flower beds and antique lightposts; the old coal-burning power plant was demolished in 2002 and replaced with a more unobstrusive building; Stalker Hall reopened in fall 2005 after a major renovation; Normal Hall, an Italian Renaissance-style building dating from ca. 1900 that originally served as the library, is being renovated; and there are plans to demolish the functional but unattractive Schools of Education and Business and replace them with more up-to-date buildings. These improvements come at a time when the city government is pushing to revitalize downtown Terre Haute by rebuilding the Terre Haute House , a historic hotel which was demolished in December 2005.


Athletic Facilities

Hulman Center , originally named Hulman Civic-University Center, is a multi-purpose ampitheater opened in December 1973. It seats 10,200 people for basketball and is home to the Indiana State University Sycamores men's and women's basketball teams of the Missouri Valley Conference . It has hosted multiple concerts and the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament title game in 1979 , the year legendary Larry Bird helped the undefeated Sycamores reach the final game of the NCAA tournament.

The Varsity soccer and baseball fields are located within a mile of the main campus along the scenic Wabash River. Memorial Stadium, the home field for Indiana State's NCAA Division I-AA football team of the Gateway Conference , is located on Wabash Avenue, two miles east of the main campus. The Duane Klueh Tennis Complex, Walter E. Marks Field for track and field and the Ferne Price Field for softball are among the many athletic facilities located on campus.

Indiana State University has hosted three NCAA Division I cross country championships at the spectacular Laverne Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Sports Center, three miles east of Terre Haute. The facility is ranked among the finest cross country courses in the world.

The Indiana State University field campus is an outdoor teaching, learning, and research area designed to accommodate educational programs and services. The field campus is located on a scenic 93 acre plot of land approximately 18 miles east of Terre Haute near Brazil, Indiana, and includes eight man-made lakes.


HISTORY


Indiana State was created by an Indiana statute on December 20, 1865 as the (Indiana) State Normal School . As the State Normal School, its core mission was to educate elementary and high school teachers. The school awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1908. Master’s degrees were granted in 1928, and the first doctor of philosophy degrees were awarded in 1968.


Former regional campuses


''Eastern Division''

The Eastern Division was created in 1918 in the building that was donated by the .


''ISU—Evansville''

Indiana State University—Evansville was created as a branch campus in 1965. In 1985 ISU—Evansville was made an independent university, named University Of Southern Indiana , with its own board of trustees.


Presidents


  • William Jones, 1869-1879

  • George Brown, 1879-1885

  • William Wood Parsons, 1885-1921

  • Linnaeus Norberg Hines, 1921-1933

  • Ralph Nigel Tirey, 1934-1953

  • Raleigh Worchester Holmstedt, 1953-1965

  • Alan Claddius Rankin, 1965-1975

  • Richard Guisseppe Landini, 1975-1992

  • John Wesley Moore, 1992-2000

  • Lloyd Wyclef Benjamin, III, 2000-2006



ACADEMICS


Colleges and School


Indiana State University is academically organized into six colleges and one school:

  • College of Arts and Sciences

  • ---containing the Departments of: African and African-American Studies • Art • Chemistry • Communication • Criminology • Ecology and Organismal Biology • Economics • English • Family and Consumer Sciences • Geography, Geology, and Anthropology • History • Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics • Life Sciences • Mathematics and Computer Science • Music • Philosophy • Physics • Political Science • Psychology • Social Work • Sociology • Theater

  • ---also containing: Center for Biodiversity Studies • Criminology Institute • Center for Economic Education • Center for Governmental Studies • Sociology Research Lab (SRL) • Center for the Study of Health, Religion, and Spirituality • Science Education Center • Center for Urban and Environmental Change


  • College of Business

  • ---containing the Departments: Analytical • Organizational

  • ---also containing: Small Business Development Center • Gongaware Center for Insurance Management • NetWorks • Center for Public Service and Community Engagement • Center for Research, Enterprise and Economic Development (CREED) • Leadership Development Institute (LDI)


  • College of Education

  • ---containing the Departments of: Counseling • Curriculum, Instruction, and Media Technology • Educational Leadership, Administration, and Foundations • Educational and School Psychology • Elementary, Early, and Special Education

  • --- also containing: Professional Development Schools (PDS) • Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education • Indiana Special Education Administrators' Services (ISEAS) • North Central Association (NCA) • Upward Bound Program • Project PRE (Partnering to Reform Education)


  • School of Graduate Studies


  • College of Nursing

  • ---containing: The Landsbaum Center for Health Education • Midwest Center for Rural Health (MCRH) • West Central Indiana Area Health Education Center (AHEC)


  • College of Technology

  • ---containing the Departments of: Automotive Technology Management - Aerospace Technology • Electronics and Computer Technology • Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Technology • Industrial Technology Education • Manufacturing and Construction Technology

  • ---also containing: Indiana Packaging Research and Development Center • Technology Services Center • Workforce Development


  • College of Health and Human Performance

  • ---containing the Departments of: Athletic Training • Health and Safety • Physical Education • Recreation and Sport Management



Degrees


  • Undergraduate baccalaureate degrees: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Music (B.M.), Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.),

  • Graduate degrees: Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.), Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Education (M.E.), Master of Music (M.M.), Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)



Accreditation


Indiana State University as a whole has been accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association Of Colleges And Schools continuously since 1915 . {Link without Title}


NOTABLE INDIANA STATE INITIATIVES


Starting with incoming freshmen in fall 2007, Indiana State University will become the first public university to require all students to have laptops. Special pricing will be offered by the university, and all services will be performed on site.


NOTABLE INDIANA STATE ALUMNI



NOTABLE INDIANA STATE FACULTY

  • Howard McMillen , (Retired) Creative Writing; author of ''The Ice Pick''

  • Scott Stalcup , Adjunct; Popular Culture and Music guru

  • Gale Christianson , (Emeriti) History; Europe, science, biography. author of ''The Last Posse: A Jailbreak, a Manhunt'' ''End of Hang-'Em High Justice'' ''Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming'' ''Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution'' ''Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae'' ''Writing Lives is the Devil! Essays of a Biographer at Work'' ''Fox at the Wood's Edge: A Biography of Loren Eiseley'' ''In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times'' ''This Wild Abyss: The Story of the Men Who Made Modern Astronomy (1978)''



SCHOOL SEAL


The Seal of Indiana State University depicts a book with a torch. The book symbolizes knowledge and truth gained here and the torch symbolizes the light of inspiration that comes to students in these halls. It was approved as the seal in 1929.


COLORS


The school colors are Yale Blue and White.


TRADITIONS


Donaghy Day


Named after Fred Donaghy, graduate of the Normal School (1912) and a professor of life sciences, this campus tradition was initiated in 1976 as a day set aside for the community to celebrate the season and to work to help beautify the campus and surrounding community.


Homecoming


The term Homecoming was first used in print announcements for the Alumni-Varsity Basketball Game on Dec. 9, 1916. By the year 1919, this event became known as Blue and White Day and featured dances and entertainment for alumni of the Normal School. In 1921 the events were organized around a football game scheduled earlier in the autumn. A bonfire and pep rally were added to the festivities in 1922; the Blue-and-White Parade in 1923; and in 1937, Bette Whitmore (Kappa Kappa) was elected ISU¹s first Homecoming Queen. Today, Indiana State is the site for the largest student-organized Homecoming Parade in the nation.

The unofficial tradition during homecoming is known as "The Walk", where a portion of the student population will walk along Wabash Avenue from the campus to the football stadium (about two miles), and stop at each bar along the way.


Founders Day


January 6 - Commemorates the opening of the institution in 1870 when 23 students presented themselves to a faculty of three on the first day of classes at the Indiana State Normal School.


Mascots


Early on in the school's history, the athletes were referred to as the "Fighting Teachers", until the students chose the name "Sycamore Trees", from the abundance of the trees in Indiana and the Wabash River Valley. In 1969, a committee created the concept of "Chief Quabachi" of the fictional Sycamore-tree tribe as a representative for the school. This remarkable Native American chief (and accompanying "legend") was used as a mascot until 1989. In 1995, the university welcomed Sycamore Sam to the ISU family. He is referred to as JD by the locals and is a happy, furry forest creature, who looks suspiciously like a blue fox.


Scooter-ama

This student organization is hosted by ePEDemix and the Fraturnal Order of Police to influence the public on scooter safety and what is considered an unsafe vehicle.


Tandem

This student-organized race was first run as part of Spring Week activities in 1970. Teams are comprised of coed mixed pairs, which compete on tandem bicycles.


Trike

The Indiana State Tricycle Derby was first run in 1963 as a 10-lap race around the sidewalks of the Quadrangle on children's tricycles. The races featured a men's and women's division (the Powder Puff Derby). The races now feature men's and women's teams racing on specially built tricycles at the new Recreation East complex at Ninth and Sycamore streets. In October 2005, the Michael Simmons Student Activity Center opened at Rec East, containing bleacher seating, an all-purpose room, restrooms, an observation deck, and storage.


SONGS


School Song

"March On (You Fighting Sycamores)," the university’s fight song, was authored and arranged by Joseph A. Gremelspacher, an ISU professor of music, as a pep song. It was first performed at a homecoming-eve pep rally on Oct. 20, 1939.


Alma Mater

Charles M. Curry, Professor of English and Literature authored The Alma Mater. It was originally entitled, "Indiana’s Normal" and first printed in a June 1912 issue of the Normal Advance.


SPORTS AND HOME VENUES


Men



Women


The school's athletic teams are known as the '' Sycamores ''. They participate in the NCAA Division I-AA Gateway Football Conference for football only and the Division I Missouri Valley Conference in all other sports. Athletically, it is best known as the alma mater of Basketball legend Larry Bird ; World Champion gymnast Kurt Thomas; and World and Olympic Champion wrester, Bruce Baumgartner. The legendary basketball coach John Wooden coached the Sycamores before accepting the Head Coaching position at UCLA. The Men's Basketball team finished as the NAIB National Champions in 1950 and as National Runner-Up in 1946 and 1948. They were also the NCAA College Division (Div II) National Runner-Up in 1968 and the Division I National Runner-Up in 1979. The 1950 team comprised the core of the 1950 Pan-American Gold Medal Team. Kurt Thomas led the Men's Gymnastics Team to the 1977 NCAA National Championship.


EXTERNAL LINKS



REFERENCES